How to output a character as an integer through cout?

char a = 0xab;
cout << +a; // promotes a to a type printable as a number, regardless of type.

This works as long as the type provides a unary + operator with ordinary semantics. If you are defining a class that represents a number, to provide a unary + operator with canonical semantics, create an operator+() that simply returns *this either by value or by reference-to-const.

source: Parashift.com – How can I print a char as a number? How can I print a char* so the output shows the pointer’s numeric value?

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